The Oilers have spent much of the 2013-14 season playing well enough to win but having their goaltending let them down. Sunday night against Los Angeles, the trend reversed itself: the team itself was brutal but goaltender Richard Bachman stole a point for the road team.

Bachman turned aside 47 of the 48 shots he faced, while Jonathan Quick at the other end stopped 17 of 18 pucks directed on him. Nail Yakupov finally scored his first goal of the season for the Oilers. In combination, that was enough to gain the Oilers one point they didn’t deserve.

Player Grades

The following are the player grades for the Oilers, with 10 being a “perfect” game, 9 extraordinary, 8 great, 7 good, 6 above average, 5 average, 4 below average, 3 poor, 2 terrible and 1 deserving of almost instant demotion. Compiled by Jonathan Willis.

#2 Jeff Petry, 5. Petry earned the second assist on Nail Yakupov’s power play goal, taking the puck off Ales Hemsky on the zone entry and getting it across to Anton Belov in the middle of the ice. Caught Matt Fratting with a big, clean check right in front of Edmonton’s net as the Los Angeles forward was preparing to fire the puck. Took a too many men penalty in overtime but helped balance things out by drawing an interference call later. An uneven performance still makes him one of the Oilers’ best defenders.

#5 Ladislav Smid, 4. Smid got shaken early, going hard into his own net and appearing to bang up his shoulder. Looked a little slow moving the puck and ended the game with one giveaway.

#14 Jordan Eberle, 5. Eberle made some nice passes, and drew a hooking penalty from Drew Doughty as he cut across the slot in the first period, but also looked a little haphazard in his own end of the rink.

#15 Nick Schultz, 3. Schultz had an eventful third period, first nailing Kyle Clifford along the blue line and then getting a nice scoring chance off a Jordan Eberle setup. Took a hooking minor in the second period and wasn’t quick enough getting to pucks in the defensive zone.

#19 Justin Schultz, 2. Schultz was chaos incorporated with the puck against Los Angeles, making multiple turnovers. Sometimes he was able to recover himself; on other occasions he found himself relying on partner Anton Belov. He made a nice defensive play in the overtime that was applauded by the commentators, but overall he was a wreck in his own zone not only without but also with the puck. Also took a holding minor in the first period.

#20 Luke Gazdic, 5. Gazdic dropped the gloves with Jordan Nolan in a wild tilt moments after Ryan Jones and Kyle Clifford fought; otherwise played just over three minutes and had little chance to do anything.

#21 Andrew Ference, 4. Ference’s pairing struggled badly on the night, and he was part of that. The counters chalked up two giveaways to the Oilers captain in what’s become an unfortunate trend, especially when paired with Nick Schultz.

#26 Mark Arcobello, 5. Arcobello showed his intelligence on the penalty kill; the Kings used a set play to create a scoring chance but when they tried it again Arcobello moved aggressively to defuse it, preventing a shot. He was quick to respond early in the third too when Nick Schultz took a little too long getting to the puck; Arcobello got it out of danger in the ensuing battle along the boards. It’s hard not to be impressed by his passing game, too – especially his penchant for the immediate return pass once the puck arrives at his stick.

#27 Boyd Gordon, 6. Won 21 of 31 faceoffs taken and, as usual, did the yeoman work on Edmonton’s third line. Incredibly, of the 23 shifts that Gordon started at even-strength, 21 of them were in the defensive zone with the other two in the neutral zone.

#28 Ryan Jones, 5. Jones took it upon himself to fight Kyle Clifford early in the second period after a somewhat questionable hit by the big Kings’ winger on Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. Took one bad angle shot that Jonathan Quick had some trouble with because Jones used the Los Angeles defenceman as a screen.

#30 Richard Bachman, 10. This is the fourth time in Oilers history that a goaltender has made at least 45 saves while allowing one or fewer goals; given that Bachman was only recalled from Oklahoma City yesterday made it an even better performance. He got a little lucky in getting knocked down on what would have been Los Angeles’ second goal; the crease was chaos and Bachman looked like he couldn’t get over but fortunately for him the Kings forward bowled him over and got Mike Richards’ goal waved off.

#41 Will Acton, 4. Acton did a pretty reasonable job everywhere but the faceoff circle, where he went 2-for-8.

#51 Anton Lander, 4. Lander impressed with both his defensive positioning and his willingness to fight for the puck, notably battling Mike Richards to regain possession at one point in the defensive end (and succeeding). He undid much of his good work with a rough third period that included one awful defensive zone turnover that directly led to a scoring chance against. Drew a tripping penalty with some solid work down low in the second period.

#55 Ben Eager, 6. Drew a minor penalty in the second period by driving hard past by Kings defender Jake Muzzin in the neutral zone; Muzzin couldn’t resist cutting him off and took the interference call. Edmonton scored on that power play. Looked effective in just over four minutes of ice-time.

#57 David Perron, 5. Perron plays a pesky style and that was evident early, as he mixed things up along the boards with basically whoever he could find. It did end up costing Edmonton at one point, as Perron took a slashing minor after getting tangled with Jeff Carter. He did manage to put a sneaky shoulder into Kyle Clifford in the third period which knocked the Kings forward down and into his own net; Perron probably should have been called on the play but got away with it. He was all over the net in the first period, particularly during the power play (he had two of the Oilers’ three first period chances with the man advantage). Led the Oilers with three shots.

#64 Nail Yakupov, 5. Yakupov scored his first goal of the season, slamming the rebound of an Anton Belov point shot past Jonathan Quick. His quick passing ability was in evidence at times, notably early on when he wasted no time springing Ryan Nugent-Hopkins for the Oilers one and only even-strength chance in the first, and then again on the pass to Ales Hemsky for the Oilers only even-strength chance of the second. He looked out of place standing in the middle of nowhere as Mike Richards scored to tie the game in the second period; still, the primary blame should not be assigned to Yakupov on that play.

#77 Anton Belov, 6. Belov started the game in a quietly outstanding manner. He made a solid pinch early in the first period, not only preventing a possible odd-man rush but maintaining possession in the offensive zone. He showed his abilities repeatedly in his own end too, notably with a quick stick that prevented a few scoring chances against and by bailing out his partner Justin Schultz after a wretched defensive zone turnover. Earned the primary assist on Nail Yakupov’s second period goal by virtue of being willing to unload the puck from the middle of the ice on to Quick; Yakupov put away the rebound. Drew a hooking minor in the first, then took a holding penalty of his own partway through the second.

#83 Ales Hemsky, 5. Hemsky made the initial power play zone entry before dropping the puck off to Jeff Petry on Nail Yakupov’s second period goal; he didn’t get a point but was very involved on the play. Had one of only two Oilers even-strength scoring chances through 40 minutes, driving hard to the net with the puck and giving Jonathan Quick some trouble.

#93 Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, 4. Nugent-Hopkins put a bit of fear into Oilers fans – and doubtless his coach – when he got caught awkwardly after trying to duck a Kyle Clifford hit, though ultimately he would return to the game. Prior to that he recorded the Oilers’ only even-strength scoring chance of the first period, splitting the Kings’ defence and getting a quick shot away. Turned the puck over on a bad clearing attempt in his own end but then made a great defensive play to negate a chance and regain possession. He looked less good on the Kings’ second period goal, failing to cover for Anton Belov who had followed Jeff Carter around the net. Went 2-for-9 in the faceoff circle.

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